The Jack the Ripper Murders presented the Victorian Police with a type of crime that they had little experience of handling.

The detectives who handled the case were pitting their wits against a lone assassin who simply wasn't leaving them any clues to go on.

In addition the murderer was committing his crimes in one of the most crime ridden quarters of Victorian London, where the secrecy of the criminal elements greatly hampered  the police as they struggled to find the killer.

Today the police would utilise the press in an attempt to gain valuable information. But the attitude of the Victorian Police was to keep journalists at arms length out of a fear that they might reveal their lines of enquiry to the criminal.

The press reacted to this lack of co-operation by grubbing around for any morsels of information that they could find and showed their frustration at the police's refusal to share information by subjecting the police to a barrage of criticism.

We have a dedicated section on the individual police officer who hunted Jack the Ripper.

Follow this link to Jack the Ripper Police officers.

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